Cochlear Implants: Chloe is Heading To Preschool!

We went from not hearing her babbling at all to singing us the days of the week.

Her progress has been amazing. Her growth has been tremendous and she’s learning right there with her peers.

Lately, she’s really been able to advocate for herself as far as, are her CIs working or are they not.

Which one is working? Are they off?

“I have to get my shoes on.”

“OK”

Chloe loves her sister. If her sister is around she’s going to be next to her.

I don’t think either one of them see a difference between the two of them.

She leads Sydney’s 4-H calf around. She got stepped on once but she got right back up. She’s tough. She goes and checks cows with me on the four-wheeler. There’s nothing we wish she could do that she can’t do.

“What should I do next?”

“Make it!”

“Make it?”

Chloe likes to be in the kitchen. She enjoys helping and sampling. Sometimes it’s a little too much help.

We end up with flour and sugar where it doesn’t need to be.

“I can’t do it. I tried!”

“You did try, very hard.”

Things are normal. Things are going great for her but there are a lot of things going on with her behind the scenes.

She gets seen three times a week by three different individuals. She works hard at it just as much as we say it’s normal. She is working hard at it. She wants to learn.

“The fireworks go over the tree.”

They’re working with her on age-appropriate sounds, developmental sounds. The K sound, the S sound, the F sound and the G sound. Developmentally, she’s where she needs to be.

We go to Boys Town twice a year, every six months, or unless needed.

I’ve always said that her right ear is her dominant ear, her first ear. They were really trying to get that left ear, to kind of boost it up and give her better overall hearing.

That’s what’s great about Boys Town. She’s doing great. She’s doing above her normal age peers but yet, they said let’s see what we can do to make it better.

“What do you get to do when you turn three?”

“Go to preschool!”

“You get to go to preschool?”

“That will be fun.”

“What do you do at preschool?”

“Listen”

“You listen?”

“Do you think you get to play?”

“Yeah!”

That was, I guess, one goal of ours was to make sure she gets in. It will be a good, tough environment for her to learn in. It will be challenging for her. We’re really hopeful that she’ll do well.

I’ve got to get over the ins and outs, ups and downs, of not just my baby going, but of her learning and thriving with other peers in a different setting. It’s going to be different. It’s going to be challenging for her but she’s ready. It’s just getting her mom ready too.

It’s hard to believe. There are days that I can say I don’t realize that she is a child with bilateral profound hearing loss. To me it seems no different than raising her older sister. There are times you have to remember, like going down the slide, we have to make sure there is static guard on it. If it’s raining, she needs to cover her Cis so they don’t get wet. So there are moments like that where you’re like, ok we need to do this, but for the most part, she’s a typical 3-year old child running around our house.

We’re fortunate to be able to have gotten to this point, without a doubt. That’s a credit to her and everybody who has helped her get there.

“Thank you Boys Town!”

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The Cochlear Implant Center at Boys Town National Research Hospital has served children and adults with severe or profound hearing loss for more than a decade with comprehensive clinical services. Join us as we celebrate our 500th cochlear implant and watch how it has changed Chloe's life in the past two years.​​